The Summer After
by Diva Urd
Summary: [Kikujiro no Natsu] Masao's summer the year after the Trip with Kikujiro is as dull as the last one was. He decides to visit Kikujiro, but the man isn't home! Masao sets out to find him with some old friends... Complete.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Characters of "Kikujiro no Natsu" are not mine, of course.  
  
KIKUJIRO – THE SUMMER AFTER  
  
When 10-year-old Masao opened the door to the small apartment where he lived with his grandmother, he was in a rather sullen mood. School was over until fall, and it was boredom all over again. His friends were on vacation, his Gran was working, and soccer training wouldn't happen in the summer months, either.  
  
He took off his shoes and walked into the living room, where he found his lunch on the low table, as usual – his grandmother prepared it every day before she left for work. Masao sat down, legs crossed, and ate in silence.  
  
When he had finished, he picked up his backpack from the floor and brought it over into his room. There, he sat down on his bed, unsure of what he could do now. He was not very fond of reading, so that thought didn't cross his mind. He had none of the fancy video games his friends played constantly, so that was not an option, either...  
  
While he was thinking, his eyes wandered over walls and shelves, until they focused on a photo album. He got up, took it from the shelf, and opened it.  
  
It was the album he had made after last year's trip with Uncle Kikujiro. Smiling, he leaved through the pages, his expression only momentarily darkening when he thought of the unpleasant things – the Scary Man, the fact that he had not been able to talk to his mother (by now, his sadness about her not even thinking about him had been reduced to a faint glimmer of 'what-if'-regret), and the one time when Uncle had fallen down some stairs and came back with some injuries.  
  
But a lot of good and sometimes funny things had happened, as well. He had met a lot of nice people on the journey, and Uncle Kikujiro and him had been camping near a lake down southwest with a travelling poet and the two motorcyclists Uncle had called "Baldy" and "Fatso". They had been playing games together, and he had had a lot of fun. His grandmother hadn't lost any words about his vacation when he got back; obviously, Uncle's wife had told her that he was with her husband, so she wouldn't have to worry about her grandson.  
  
And then, after reminiscing in this manner for some minutes, the solution to his summer dilemma struck him: He would ask Uncle Kikujiro whether he wanted to go somewhere with him again! Even if that meant sleeping at abandoned bus stops and sitting at the bike races for days – at least that wouldn't be as boring as sitting at home alone for weeks upon weeks!  
  
He got up, put his shoes on at the apartment door and left for the house in which Uncle Kikujiro's restaurant was located.  
  
***  
  
"No, Masao, my boy, he isn't here."  
  
Haruka Minekawa, wife of 'Uncle Kikujiro', as Masao called him, sighed inwardly. She had been ready and willing to help the boy last year, when he had showed up in their part of Tokyo, with an address where he hoped to find his mother and a meager amount of money for the journey. She had seen instantly that he was in no condition to travel alone – he did not seem to have any sense of direction (he would have had to go north to get to the train station, and they lived straight south of him), and he had been about to lose his money to some youths who forced him to show his wallet when she had found him. No, the boy could not look after himself yet.  
  
That had been when she had sent Kikujiro along to watch over the boy – he had not been of much help in the restaurant anyway, and a little relaxation would do him some good. And it had – her husband had returned from the two and a half weeks with the boy with an unusual good mood. And Masao's Grandmother had been grateful that somebody took her boy on a trip, for she couldn't afford to stop working and go to a beach somewhere just because it was summer.  
  
But now, Masao was back for more and presented an unexpected annoyance to Haruka. Surely he did not think that, because he had spent some time with Kikujiro last year, this form of vacation would happen every summer now?!  
  
"Uncle Kikujiro is on vacation already – alone. I am afraid that he won't be back today. Why don't you go back home and ask your Grandmother whether you can help her with her housework? And give her my greetings!"  
  
***  
  
Masao was frustrated when he closed the door of the restaurant behind him. Uncle wasn't there, and his wife wouldn't tell him where he went... what if he had left her, like his mother left him, to move far away and forget about him? That would be bad...  
  
The spring was gone from his step when he walked along the street, bound homeward. That was when he saw the old Mitsubishi van parked on the opposite sidewalk. Surely it couldn't be...?  
  
But it was just the person the car had made him think of: The travelling poet, whose name they had never asked for. He sat in front of a small café, sipping on a cool drink and waving his arm over his head when he caught sght of Masao, motioning him to come closer.  
  
"Hello, Boy! I had hoped to meet you and your friend around here somewhere on my way through Tokyo before going south again. I trust he is well?"  
  
"I don't know," Masao confessed. "He isn't home, and they won't tell me where he has gone."  
  
The thin man's brow furrowed under his straw hat.  
  
"That is odd. Why wouldn't they want to tell you? Well, anyway: I wanted to talk to him, because I had hoped he could give me some inspiration for a narrative poem cycle I am writing on. Oh well... I have no specific place I have to be, I might as well try and track him down."  
  
Masao's eyes lit up with sudden hope – here was the opportunity for an adventure, and a way to satisfy his curiosity about just where Uncle Kikujiro had gone, and for what purpose he had left.  
  
"Please take me with you!", he blurted out.  
  
The poet looked slightly taken aback.  
  
"I can't just take you somewhere, Boy," he protested. "Last time was different – you were with your friend. But if I just put you into my van and drive off, your grandmother will be worried!"  
  
"We can talk to her, she will surely allow it!", the boy begged, not at all sure that his Gran would approve.  
  
The man stared at him – and then his stony expression split into a grin.  
  
"You are a travelling man, alright – although you are just a boy yet. Very well, we will ask your grandmother whether you can come with me for a while. If she says no, promise me that you will stay home and don't go off on your own searching for your friend, okay?"  
  
Masao thought about this for a moment, and then replied: "I promise."  
  
***  
  
"So, you know this young man from last year, when Uncle Kikujiro took you to the beach?"  
  
Masao's grandmother eyed the poet suspiciously. She wasn't sure what to make of this – but she guessed that the young man Masao had brought to her workplace wasn't some sort of nutcase who liked little boys, or a kidnapper. After all, then he wouldn't have come to her to ask for her permission to take the boy with him. And Masao seemed to like him a lot.  
  
'Just what did those two do last summer?', she asked herself, when she thought about the boy's attachment to Kikujiro, the grump, combined with the sudden appearance of this man, who claimed to have met them. She would ask Masao later.  
  
For now, she focused on Masao's pleading expression, the young man's agreeable smile – and then she made a decision.  
  
"You can take him with me – in exchange for your name and your license plate number. If you don't bring him back within a week, I will call the police."  
  
Masao visibly relaxed when the man replied: "Of course, Ma'am. He will be back here within a week, I promise. If I didn't get him back to you by then, I deserve to be hunted down.", and emphasized his words with a bow of gratitude.  
  
They would go and look for Uncle Kikujiro – what fun that would be!  
  
****************************  
  
Here Chapter One of this story – it will have between 3 and 5 Chapters at the end. Hope you enjoy! Please review! 


	2. Chapter 2

And here Chapter 2 of Masao's newest journey!  
  
CHAPTER 2  
  
Yusuke Maeda, to some people only known as "The Travelling Poet", steered his van onto the motorway that led southwest. His little charge, the boy Masao whom he had gotten to know last summer, sat next to him on the passenger's seat, looking out the window.  
  
He didn't quite understand, how it had come to be that Masao had travelled as far as he did with the man he called 'Uncle Kikujiro' – he certainly wouldn't have allowed his child to be with a man like this, at least not at first. Kikujiro had stuck him as quite irresponsible and rude. It had only been later, during the time they had been camping at the lake, that he had opened up and shown some genuine kindness toward the boy – always hidden in a tough comment, of course.  
  
The whole experience of being with the unlikely pair and the two bikers from around Matsue had been most inspiring. That had been the reason why he had returned to Tokyo in the first place – to talk to Kikujiro and Masao, to partly relive the surreal time they had spent together. He had found Masao, but Kikujiro, so said the boy, had gone missing.  
  
After wrecking his brain for half an hour, back at the café where he had caught sight of Masao, the boy eating a generous portion of ice cream next to him, he had come up with an idea where to start searching. Back then, he had exchanged phone numbers with the two bikers, and he decided to call up the one Kikujiro had called 'Fatso' on his cell phone. His real name was Kaoru Kajimura, and he was a full-time student when he didn't ride his motorcycle around.  
  
"Hello Mr. Kajimura, I don't know whether you remember me from last year, the poet with the van... yes, I have a question. Masao and I are searching for his friend, who seems to have gone missing... Yes, exactly, that guy. He asked you to take him somewhere while we were camping at the lake – do you remember where he wanted to go?... Ah, thank you very much. Yes, we can meet there. Bring your friend! See you there!"  
  
He had hung up, now knowing where he had to start searching for Kikujiro.  
  
And now, they were bound for the place Kaoru had pointed them at, and where he would wait for them tomorrow morning, his friend Akito "Baldy" Tendoh with him: A pension home in Daito-Cho, not far from Matsue, in the southwestern corner of Honshu. It would take them between eight and ten hours to get there; they would most likely stop near Kyoto for the night.  
  
Of course, Yusuke doubted that Kaoru and Akito were so keen on seeing 'the old coot', as they called Masao's friend Kikujiro, again. However, they had both been very fond of the boy, and they had had some interesting conversations with the poet as well. Most likely, they were willing to help for reunion's sake.  
  
Well, he didn't even know himself whether it was really just for inspiration's sake that he had made the way to Tokyo from his native Sendai. Maybe he had been wanting to reunite with the odd group he had met last summer, as well.  
  
Next to him, the boy had already fallen asleep by the time they left the last outskirts of Tokyo behind, his backpack clutched tightly in his arms. Masao was a good kid – not special, not even overly bright, but a very good boy nonetheless.  
  
Thus Yusuke concluded as he steered the car due southwest, in the direction where Nagoya, and, later, Kyoto and Osaka, and then Matsue would appear in their path.  
  
***  
  
After a short night on camping grounds close to Kyoto, it was about 10 o'clock in the morning, the Mitsubishi van came to a halt near the pension home where "Fatso" hat claimed to have brought Kikujiro.  
  
Masao spotted them at once when he jumped out of the poet's car: "Baldy" and "Fatso", dressed mostly in black, with their big motorcycle! He waved at them enthusiastically even as he passed the distance between them running.  
  
There were no words as he hugged both of the young men and waited with them for the poet – he had told him that his name was Yusuke – to catch up.  
  
The greeting between the men was short, but heartfelt, and Uncle Yusuke quickly got to the point.  
  
"Mr. Kajimura, you told me on the phone that you brought Masao's friend here. Did he tell you whether he had a relative here?"  
  
"Fatso" thought about this for a moment before he finally answered:  
  
"He didn't say much afterwards; he really wasn't in a good mood. I think he was more sad than angry, though. I think he mentioned that his mother lives here, but that he didn't talk to her."  
  
Yusuke nodded. "Then we should start asking around here. Maybe he was – or still is – here to visit her for real this time. The nurses will know for sure."  
  
He took Masao by the hand and entered the complex of buildings, the two college students trailing along behind them.  
  
It didn't take them long to find the reception desk of the pension home, and Yusuke took the initiative again upon seeing that it was manned at the moment. He left Masao with the bikers and strode over to address the woman at the other side of the desk in a polite voice:  
  
"Excuse me, Miss, but I have a question. We are looking for a friend of ours who has a relative in this retirement complex. If he was here, I am sure you have heard of it – He doesn't believe in common courtesy, you wouldn't hear any 'thank you's' from him, but rather some very unflattering remarks and complaints. He is not from around here, either, so he doesn't show up very often. Has such a person been here, lately?"  
  
The nurse didn't even have to think to recognize the man Yusuke had described.  
  
"That would be the son of Mrs. Minekawa, I presume. Yes, he has been here just the other day – his mother died, and as the only living relative, he had to make sure that she was brought back to her home town of Nagoya for a proper burial. He left the day before yesterday. The burial will be in two days, or so we were told – Hajime Cemetary, in one of the suburbs. You might catch your friend there."  
  
***********************  
  
There goes Chapter 2 – hope you enjoyed! 


	3. Chapter 3

Hello people! For those of you who read it, here the final chapter of "The Summer After"! Hope you enjoyed the ride!  
  
CHAPTER 3  
  
After they had heard of Kikujiro's loss at the Daito-Cho pension home, the poet, the two college students and the boy decided to attend the funeral. However, they would have to wait until the day after tomorrow. "Fatso" had been the one to come up with the idea:  
  
"Why don't we camp at the lake where we were staying last year tonight? I am sure we won't disturb anybody there. And tomorrow, we'll stay on the camping grounds near Kyoto. From there, we can go to Nagoya within two hours."  
  
Yusuke, the poet, had nodded.  
  
"That might be the best course of action. I have a tent in the back – you guys can use that, Masao and I will sleep in the van."  
  
And that had been what had happened. They had spent the two days together, playing with Masao, who had thought that these days were just as good as the time they had spent together the year before. At one point, Uncle Kaoru, the guy Uncle Kikujiro had constantly called "Fatso", had even allowed the boy to ride with him on his motorcycle for a while. Masao had thought this a great adventure – he had been sure afterwards that he wanted a 'cool bike' himself once he was big enough to own one.  
  
Now, they were on the road again, and on their way to Nagoya, where they hoped to find the man they had been searching for – "Baldy" and "Fatso" on their bike, and the poet and Masao in the van. Yusuke and Masao did not talk much; most of the time, both of them seemed to want to be alone with their own thoughts.  
  
Yusuke, for example, had some thoughts about showing up at Mrs. Minekawa's funeral – after all, they weren't invited. He sincerely hoped the already rather rude Kikujiro would not get mad at them – least of all the boy, who had meant well when he had proposed the search for his friend...  
  
Masao, on the other hand, was almost relieved to hear where Uncle Kikujiro truly was. When his wife had not told him anything about his whereabouts, he had feared that his friend was gone for good – just like his mom had been. Of course, it was sad that Uncle Kikujiro's mom had died, but it still seemed to mean that he would return home after the funeral, and that made Masao happy.  
  
Then, the two bikers from Matsue passed the small Mitsubishi van, and both of them waved up to them. Yusuke and Masao returned the wave, their worries evaporating. Not long anymore, then they would be in Nagoya, attending Mrs. Minekawa's funeral... and seeing Kikujiro again.  
  
***  
  
It was two o'clock in the afternoon when Kikujiro Minekawa watched the pall bearers carry his mother toward her last place of rest. The six people carrying the casket right now had been hired by the preacher – and Kikujiro was the only person in attendance. Hitomi Minekawa had been a lonely woman at the end; most of the family had turned their backs on her when she had run off to get married to Kikujiro's father, not knowing that he was a hired gun for the local branch of the Yakuza. So deep was the breach, they would not even show up for the funeral.  
  
Kikujiro sadly shook his head. He had not exactly been a model son, either. After he had heard that she started to have health problems, he had paid a friend of hers to find her a good nursery home. And since she had been there, for a good ten years, last time he checked, he had only visited three times. The first two times, he had tried to talk to her, to be a nice guy and show her that he truly cared – but she had refused to talk to him, and had asked the nurse to be brought back to her room without sparing him a second glance.  
  
He had left the second time feeling angry and hurt. Was it his fault that she had not bothered to find out what his father had been doing for a living? Was it his fault that he had inherited most of his father's features? Surely not!  
  
It had been years until his third visit – and that visit had only consisted of standing in the door of the common room in the pension home, watching her glancing out of the window, her face sad and bitter. He had chosen not to agitate her by getting any closer, and had turned around to go.  
  
Had the nurses known by then that she had been diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer? Had she prohibited them to tell him? Or had her sickness gone unnoticed, up until she died? One thing was sure: She had not suffered much. The head nurse had told him that she had been complaining about pain only in the last three weeks before she finally died in her sleep.  
  
His mother had left a clause in her will that stated that she wanted to be buried in her home town of Nagoya and sent on by a christian priest (she had converted to Christianity during her stay at Daito-Cho), and he had decided to heed her last wish. He might not have been a good son, but that was the least he could do for the woman who had given birth to him.  
  
As he stood next to the large hole in the ground, the coffin being slowly lowered into it with the preacher talking about 'Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust', he noticed that he was not alone anymore. Three men and a little boy had joined him as he waited for the funeral to be over, three men and a boy... he recognized from somewhere.  
  
It did not take long to remember when the boy stepped up to him and took his hand.  
  
"Hello Uncle," he said, "we have been looking for you. I'm sorry your mom died."  
  
Masao...  
  
Then, the others stepped closer, and he realized who they were, as well. The travelling poet, "Baldy" and "Fatso". The people he had come to know last year. But why were they here?  
  
He looked into the boy's smiling face, and he understood. The boy had been searching for him, just as he had been searching for his mother the year before – and it obviously had been easier for Masao to find him.  
  
The preacher had finished reading out of his little black book, and waited for him to do something. He took the little shovel, filled it with a symbolical amount of dirt and let it drop into the pit. Then, he threw a single lily down on the coffin. It was over.  
  
He turned around to the three men Masao had brought with him. They all nodded gravely in greeting, and the poet took his hat off when he glanced at the open grave.  
  
"Condolences, my friend. The little one has been very worried about you not being home, so we helped him searching for you. I wish there was more we could do for you, but all I can offer you for now is a ride home."  
  
For a moment, Kikujiro was rendered speechless. He had not been very nice to those men, who had helped Masao to get here – in fact he had been downright rude, as he had been to most people except his wife throughout his life. And yet they had still been willing to search for him, whether for the boy's sake or his own didn't matter. How could he respond to this unexpected kindness?  
  
There was only one way to react.  
  
He bowed to the poet, his lips forming words he had not used in years.  
  
"I will accept the ride home. Thank you."  
  
- THE END -  
  
*****************************  
  
Please review! 


End file.
